THE GARDEN ALBUM AND REVIEW . 
73 
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Talbot Villa, Isleworth, W. 
PLANTING DAHLIAS. 
When planting dahlias in the open ground 
give the plants as much room as can be 
afforded them; the more room, the better 
plants and flowers.. Put a stout stake in for 
every plant to be tied to. If you know what 
height the plant is likely to grow to, let the 
stake be a foot higher, and on the top tack the 
label having on it the name of the variety, and 
for convenience, the color also. Of old it was 
a common impression that dahlias were in¬ 
sensible to good treatment, and advanced 
methods of cultivation. Nothing can be more 
mistaken than this impression. If choice 
flowers are expected from dahlias these will 
not be forthcoming unless the plants are 
properly grown. With that end in view the 
plants, no matter by which method propagated, 
should be ground on one stem, and when the 
buds appear, disbudded to the end, in order 
that good stems with handsome flowers can be 
had. This is more appicable to the cactus, 
and the other large flowering double types than 
to the single types, but even with them it will 
be found that larger flowers will be the result 
if some of the buds are nipped off. For some 
two or three years growers were in such a state 
of frenzied enthusiasm over the newcomers in 
cactus dahlias that the double and single types 
were given but slight attention, but now that 
these enthusiasts are re-gaining their usual 
state of mind they are beginning to see some 
good even in the double, show and fancy types, 
while the sensational Twentieth Century type 
of single dahlias compelled attention even at a 
time when most growers were most cactus 
dahlia mad. 
Every dahlia of every type needs a good 
rich soil, and the soil needs to be thoroughly 
cultivated for the successful growth of°th"e 
dahlia; frequent hoeing and no raking will 
prevent the soil getting hard or baking.— 
American Florist. 
TRIMMING TOMATO LEAVES. 
I was pleased to see in the last number of 
The Garden Album and Review, page 63, 
that stress was laid upon the important work 
done by the leaves of plants in absorbing 
nourishment from the atmosphere. The read- 
ing of this article has suggested that it may 
not be out of place to call attention to a very 
common — but not very common-sense—method 
of treating tomato plants during the growing 
season. Many amateur gardeners mutilate the 
leaves of their plants under the impression that 
they are thus saving the sap for the fruits. 
\\ hen many professional gardeners, who ought 
to know better, do precisely the same thing 
and for the same reason, one cannot very well 
blame, untrained and inexperienced men from 
following their example. 
But this bad practice is founded upon a 
fallacy, or misconception, as to the work done 
by the leaves, not only of tomatos, but of all 
plants. In almost every other case gardeners 
take great precautions and spend a lot of 
money in preventing the foliage of their plants 
from being injured by mildew, rust, green-fly, 
red-spider, caterpillars, and a host of other 
pests. And yet, when it comes to tomatos, 
they wilfully destroy healthy leaves and thus 
check the plants in their work of ripening and 
feeding the fruits they are striving to obtain. 
There can be no objection of course to thinning 
out the side shoots or “ laterals ” from the main 
stems of the tomato plants, as if they were 
allowed to develop the sources of food — air and 
light—would be almost excluded from the 
plants. But what appears to be so senseless 
is to cut av r ay almost every leaf on the main 
stem after the lateral growths have been 
suppressed. It stands to reason that if the 
leaves are the only organs of the plant that can 
absorb and assimilate the carbonic acid gas 
from the atmosphere during daylight, they 
must be kept as clean and healthy and 
uninjured as possible to enable them to carry 
out this important function. Anything in the 
form of disease or mutilation interferes v T ith 
the w T ork of the leaves and is therefore detri¬ 
mental to securing a heavy crop of fruit. As 
the great mass of the dry w T eight of a tomato 
plant is composed of carbon taken from the 
atmosphere, growers will do w T ell to bear this 
fact in mind. By giving their plants sufficient 
air and light they are really placing a valuable 
food—for which they have to pay nothing — at 
the disposal of the plants. By adopting this 
method of culture— which, after all, is only 
taking advantage of natural or scientific law T s. 
I have secured from 12 to 24 fruits on a truss, 
and as many as 100 to one plant, about four 
tomatos going to the pound. The variety 
was one saved and improved from the “ Per¬ 
fection ” class, and possessed the important 
advantage of a branching flov’er truss. 
Tomato Grower. 
